Previewing ‘Judge Dredd: A Better World’ – The Perfect Dredd For Our Times

by Richard Bruton

A heck of a lot of notice on this one, not out till 29 January 2025, but it’s one you should be putting the pre-orders in for now: the finest Dredd in so many years!

Judge Dredd: A Better World collects together the acclaimed tales of Judge Maitland, a character that went from simple accounts Judge to the Judge that could transform the world of Mega-City One and the world of Dredd – if only she were to get the chance.

Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt gave us a perfect tale that showed us just how the very finest of Dredd tales can (and have always) echo the events of our own world and act as stark warnings of a possible future, particularly in these charged political times we find ourselves.

The whole thing comes from a ‘defund the judges’ idea. Not a vague politician’s idea but one that comes from Maitland actually running the numbers, working out that a reallocation of spending towards rehabilitation, education and community would actually result in doing the unthinkable and solve the crime problem.

Such a simple core idea but one that’s been playing out so brilliantly across multiple storylines for the past few years with Maitland’s carefully worked out plans finally seeing fruition in the main story here, A Better World, with career-high art from Henry Flint. It’s all here in this essential collection, including those earlier tales; ‘Carry The Nine’ and ‘The Pitch’ with artist Boo Cook and ‘The Hard Way’ with artist Jake Lynch.

Of course, we know now that the grand plan worked perfectly – or would have worked perfectly were it not for the factors that Maitland couldn’t contol, the powers-that-be and their vested interest in keeping the status quo, whether that’s the Justice Department higher ups who are more politicians that Judges by now or the various bad actors in Mega-City One who control the media and the message that gets out to the people. And yes, that’s never been more relevant than this year where we see elections happening both in the UK and the USA and we see echoes of events on our TV screens right now on the pages of this finest of Dredds.

As it is, ‘A Better World’ turned into something so special – relevant, prescient, powerful and, by its end, absolutely heartbreaking. It really is one of those Dredds that did absolutely everything right, said important things, did important things in a way few comics can. It’s already up there amongst the likes of America and other Dredd classics and is absolutely recommended for everyone who wants to know just what it is that makes Dredd so vital and essential for today.

Here’s a little of the 2000 AD bumf…

‘A Better World is a modern Judge Dredd classic, a powerful story focusing on a large-scale experiment with the aim of making Mega-City One a better place for the citizens who live there, but if the experiment is successful them the power of the Judges could well be destroyed.

‘A ground-breaking, heart-breaking story of hope, fear, politics and pathos, ‘A Better World’ is the modern Judge Dredd classic you do NOT want to miss!’

Judge Dredd: A Better World is available to pre-order either in paperback or 2000 AD webshop-exclusive hardback editions right now.

JUDGE DREDD: A BETTER WORLD

Written by Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt

Art by Henry Flint, Boo Cook, and Jame Lynch.
Published by 2000 AD on 29 January 2025